Arch Klumph and his Rotary Legacy
At the 1917 RI convention, outgoing Rotary President Arch Klumph proposed to establish an endowment “for the purpose of doing good in the world,” with an initial balance of $26.50. This week Arch C. Klumph Societies member Martin Limbird will share his passion for the Rotary Foundation, highlight the role of TRF founder Arch C. Klumph and the development of TRF since 1917.In 1928, the endowment was renamed The Rotary Foundation, and became a distinct entity within Rotary International. In 1929, the Foundation made its first gift of $500 to the International Society for Crippled Children. The organization, created by Rotarian Edgar F. “Daddy” Allen, later grew into Easter Seals. When Rotary founder Paul Harris died in 1947, contributions began pouring in to Rotary International, and the Paul Harris Memorial Fund was created to build the Foundation.
Martin Limbird first joined Rotary in 1984 in Ames, Iowa, and became a charter member of the Muncie (Indiana) Sunrise Rotary Club in 1994. He served as club president in 2001-02, and, in 2004, his wife Mary Catherine, a cross cultural trainer and ESL teacher, joined the same club. Martin led a GSE team to France in 1999 and was District 6560 Governor in 2005-06, leading all 24 districts in Zones 29-30 in per capita and total giving to The Rotary Foundation that year. He was an area polio campaign coordinator, GSE committee chair, district trainer and, in 2008-09, district membership chair, leading all districts in Zone 30 in membership growth. The Limbirds are active members of Rotary’s International Travel and Hosting Fellowship and the Beers Rotarians Enjoy Worldwide (B.R.E.W.) Fellowship. Martin was appointed to the 2016 Seoul Convention and the 2017 Atlanta Convention Promotion Committees and served as Chief Sergeant at Arms for the 2016 International Assembly training incoming governors.
Martin and Mary Catherine are Rotary Foundation Major Donors, members of the Bequest and Arch C. Klumph Societies as well as charter members of the district 6560 Paul Harris Society - founded during Martin’s governorship. Since 1998, the Limbirds have been sergeants-at-arms at sixteen Rotary international conventions. They took part in a National Immunization Day in Ghana in 2007, initiated a zone-wide partnership with Mexican Rotarians in district 4170, known as Heart2Heart which continues today, and both were named honorary members of the Metropolitano Rotary Club in Mexico City.
Martin retired from Ball State University in 2009, capping a four-decade career in international educational exchange beginning as a graduate student in Belgium, U.S. Peace Corps service in Ghana, directing international services offices for two decades at Iowa State University (where he earned his Ph.D.), and nearly twenty years at Ball State University. Both Mary Catherine and Martin have earned Fulbright fellowships abroad, and Martin is a past president of NAFSA: Association of International Educators, the Indiana-Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil) Partners of the Americas and recipient of the Silver Beaver award from the Crossroads of America Council, Boy Scouts of America.
In September, 2010, the Limbirds moved to Fort Collins, Colorado where Mary Catherine is an active member of the Fort Collins Breakfast Rotary Club and P.E.O, and Martin belongs to the Fort Collins Rotary Club, where he is a member of the club’s TRF committee. In 2013, Martin was named D.5440 Paul Harris Society coordinator and presented with the district’s Foundation Service award as co-chair of a dinner that raised $2.7 million for The Rotary Foundation’s Permanent Fund. In July 2015, he began a three year term as Endowment/Major Gift adviser for Rotary Zone 27.
The Limbirds’ daughter Tina, her husband (a member of the Berlin International Rotary Club) and darling granddaughters live in Germany, and their son Scott is pursuing a career in restaurant and rental property management in Indiana. In his free time, Martin serves on the Global Village Museum board of directors, plays trombone in the Northern Colorado New Horizons Band, and is an unrepentant amateur accordionist.